Seemingly Prim and Proper
by BYG-DH
Summary: Cammie Morgan doesn't even know about the existence of dating shows until Bex practically forces her to accompany her to watch one. Of course, Bex cancels and demands Cammie to watch it without her—leading her to meet a charming person named Zach who turns her world upside down.
1. Chapter 1

I'm more than a little obsessed with the series. And Zachary Goode.

Constructive criticism would be appreciated.

Chapter One

Cammie Morgan almost wants to cover her face and hide underneath a false sense of security, hoping that no one notices her as she seethes to herself. She mutters a string of string of curse words in German, taking advantage of the fact that she knows that no one around her knows German and continues muttering under her breath until _it_ begins.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over!"

She discreetly scans the audience one last time and listens attentively to the host, even if she knows that he isn't actually going to say anything of importance.

There are one thousand and five hundred people in the crowd. She repeats to herself that there is only a one out of a one thousand and five hundred chance of her being chosen and really, what were the odds?

She forces herself to contort her face into a neutral expression. She sighs to herself, knowing that someone sitting behind her is looking at her, and casually looks at the stage in front of her once again.

Bex Baxter, her best friend, had received two tickets to a dating show from Tina Turner as some sort of strange birthday gift. (Tina's known for her random gifts, so it isn't any surprise that she would give such a type of gift.) Not wanting to waste the tickets, she had managed to convince Cammie to accompany her to the show.

Crossing her arms, Cammie aligns her spine with her seat. She recalls how Bex practically shoved the tickets into her arms, claiming that she couldn't make it.

_I don't see why she wanted me to come, _Cammie thinks to herself. _I didn't even know about dating shows until she mentioned them. _

Dating shows are pointless. There isn't anything remotely entertaining or interesting about them, but there she is, watching one. There's a man sitting on stage, obviously trying too hard to appear like a perfect prince charming. He's giving a speech about his undying love for animals, telling a story of how his first arrest consisted of fighting another man for baby birds. Women are crowded on the opposite side of the stage, determining if they liked him or not.

She comforts herself by reminding herself that she isn't participating in the embarrassing game, but she takes out the ticket stub from her pockets and gulps.

_One lucky female from the audience will be chosen near the end to join!_

She lightly taps her head, forgiving herself for forgetting to dress up as a male at the very least. She couldn't think so negatively. She would be wasting her energy worrying and dreading.

A tall figure slides into the empty seat next to her.

She notices how his green eyes contrasted with his black, slouchy sweater. His sweater is slightly stretched out from his broad shoulders and a black beanie covers his dark hair with the exception of his bangs.

With one glance, she can tell that he's aware of his good looks.

"Excuse me, but that seat is taken."

He looks at her with a slight smirk and holds up his ticket stub between his index and middle finger. "I'm an acquaintance of Bex Baxter."

"Is there a particular reason why she would give you that ticket?" Cammie asks politely, not wanting to follow her initial reaction and grab the ticket from him. She isn't there to attract attention, but to do what she does best—blending in.

"She had a spare ticket," he casually shrugs and slightly leans in.

Cammie feels her heart skip a beat, but she ignores her chest. She knows his type, and she's not willing to give him the satisfaction that he's seeking. She leans back onto her seat and stares intently in front of her, subtly moving away from the boy. She blinks when she catches a whiff of his scent, which seemed to consist of laundry detergent and something else she couldn't pinpoint.

"May I ask you what your name is?"

"You may, but I may not answer," she replies quickly and glances at her watch. It isn't as if she wasn't urging time to race forward, but he was a contributing factor to her desire to jump off her seat and run back to her school.

She's not too fond of dressing up. The female portion of the audience is mainly dressed up in sparkly, sequined dresses in bright colors. On the other hand, Cammie had tossed a navy blue coat over her school uniform and she was currently fighting the urge to pull down her leggings. She's sitting right next to the heater, after all.

She gives into temptation and pulls off her coat, folding it neatly before she holds it in her lap.

"Aren't you all prim and proper?" He speaks again and looks at her with an almost condensing expression that she wanted to punch off his face, no matter how good looking he is. He's lucky he has a nice voice, because he was obviously incapable of silence. "So, Gallagher Girl—"

"I don't recall giving you permission to call me by that," Cammie interrupts in a bored drawl. "If you're bored, you can always watch the show."

He looks amused, and Cammie bites her lip in frustration. She doesn't exactly enjoy being a source of entertainment. She refuses to show it, and she erases all traces of previous subtle irritation off her face.

"I think you're more interesting than the show," he rolls his eyes playfully and drapes his arm on his seat.

At this point, Cammie almost thinks that he's flirting with her. He certainly seems like a player, but she needs to ask one of her best friends, Macey McHenry, for advice. She shakes her head and assures him, "I'm not interesting in the slightest, but thank you for thinking that."

"Gallagher Girl—"

"My name is Cammie Morgan."

He blinks in surprise, but he recovers quickly. He smirks, as if in triumph, and coolly thrust his big hand in front of him. It's almost as if he was expecting a longer period time to learn her name. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Cammie shakes his hand firmly. She's raised with proper manners and she refuses to make her parents ashamed. "Should I call you 'Bex's Acquaintance'? I have a feeling you're not going to use my name."

She doesn't think she could ever get used to the nickname. People would glare at her just from the word "Gallagher", as rich, spoiled brats supposedly attend it.

She's more used to other unofficial nicknames.

_The headmistress' daughter._

_Bex Baxter's plain best friend._

"You don't like it? It's cute."

She wonders if his smirk was permanently glued onto his face and looks back up at the stage. Six out of the twenty four women apparently like the male suitor now.

"That's a matter of opinion, and fortunately, I do not share the same tastes as you. Now please do not dodge my question. Who are you?"

"Your future husband."

She shakes her head, blaming herself for not expecting such a childish reply. Of course he wouldn't want to give up his name so easily. But of course.

"Please do not speak to me for the remainder of the show."

"As you wish."

She wishes she can wipe the smirk off his face.

* * *

She falls asleep.

She refuses to believe it. She refuses to believe that she fell asleep on the shoulder of a stranger. She subtly looks up, hoping that perhaps he wasn't paying attention to her and he didn't notice that she was lying on his shoulder.

"Did you sleep well?"

She buries her head into her hands, waiting for a few seconds before pinching her nose to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She peeks through the slits of her fingers to see him looking at her with an expression torn between amusement and concern.

_It's not a dream._

"I—I slept well, thank you for asking," she stutters in embarrassment. She doesn't want to apologize, but her manners were more important than her pride in some cases. "I'm really sorry for falling asleep in such a careless manner on your shoulder! You should have woken me up. You should have pushed me aside onto the ground and yelled at me. You shouldn't have—"

"Relax, Gallagher Girl. It's not like you drooled onto my sweater," he laughs at her horrified expression and pulls the fabric that covered his shoulder. "Look, it's clean. Besides, I'm not lying when I say you looked cute."

She blushes.

"The show's over. He chose the woman in the maid outfit, in case you were curious," he adds as an afterthought.

"So he's someone with a maid fetish," she laughs and takes in the fact that she wasn't chosen for the show. She's still embarrassed for falling asleep in front of a stranger. She has trouble falling asleep, but somehow, moments before, she was peacefully asleep.

She decides to try asking him again. "Who are you?"

He pushes himself off the chair and extends his hand to Cammie with a slightly less obnoxious smirk.

"It's Zach Goode. It's an honor to meet you, Gallagher Girl."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! They're my source of motivation and inspiration! :) I'm going to experiment with different writing styles, so please remember that constructive critism is always welcomed.

Chapter Two

"Why him?"

Bex is aware of her best friend's exasperated tone, but she feigns an innocent expression as she casually shrugs her shoulders. "No reason in particular." Smoothly draping her long, muscular legs over her bed, she knows there's only one person she couldn't fool.

Good thing she craves drama. Thrives, invites, seeks. It's all the same thing to her.

A better word would be_ entertainment. _

"Why would you invite him, Bex?" Cammie hisses with forced patience. She clutches her cup of hot water, seriously contemplating emptying the container over Bex's head before deciding that it wasn't worth it. She wouldn't put it past Bex to throw the cup at her face. Besides, Bex isn't Macey McHenry, who could probably manage to look supermodel-worthy even with dripping locks.

Scratch that thought. Macey would _definitely_ look like a supermodel with dripping locks. So would Bex, really, but she would have…unfortunate hair.

Yes, that's a nice phrase. _Unfortunate hair._

"I had a spare ticket and he was available," Bex answers with a mischievous smile. "Would you rather have me waste the ticket?"

She raises an eyebrow for a few seconds, her smile only growing wider after Cammie sighs.

"Honestly, yes," she admits quietly, slipping under the warm covers of her blankets. She stares up at the wall, recalling the event with vivid details before she squeezes her eyes shut.

She doesn't want to think about him. She doesn't want to remember gazing into his green eyes, falling asleep on him, or blushing at his flirting tatics.

_"You looked cute."_

She firmly reminds herself that he is a jerk. She glances at the calendar, counting down the days until Macey and Liz finally return to the Gallagher Academy. Summer vacation had felt much too long, which was surprising considering she wasn't on her grandparents' farm for once.

She props herself up on her bed and throws a pillow at Bex, who catches it with her lightning reflexes before returning the favor with twice the force. "You're sociable. Certainly you must have known someone else who would have gladly taken the ticket?"

"He's intriguing," Bex smirks in a confident manner of a girl who knows more than she was letting on, and before Cammie could question her, she slams a pillow onto the lights switch, effectively plunging the two girls into a room of darkness. "And remarkably handsome, Cammie. Isn't that what female teenagers are designed to swoon over?"

Cammie allows herself to fall back onto her bed and mutters, "Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams about Zach!"

* * *

Cammie is torn between excitement towards the arrival of her best friends and anguish, dreading in horror about the new school year.

"Remind me again, but wasn't junior year just _yesterday_?" Bex questions with a longing look.

Evidently, Cammie isn't the only one sharing the same feeling. She shakes her head, not in disagreement, but in puzzlement. "Where did my summer _disappear_ to?" She softly asks herself, knowing that the girl next to her would be able to hear.

She has always loathed school. She loves learning and expanding her thoughts and knowledge, and she couldn't be more thrilled about furthering her education. But no matter how hard she tries to ignore the taunts and the rumors, she could never run away from them.

Bex loudly pops her gum before glancing at the seemingly expressionless girl. She knows she is internally panicking, but she doesn't say anything of relevance to her spinning wheel of thoughts. "One more year, Cam."

"I love it here," she whispers and stretches her arms, allowing herself to relax in the presence of her best friend and the empty hallways. The breeze is gently blowing, and she closes her eyes as she memorizes the feel of the sunshine on her face.

"You're a bird confined in a cage," Bex whispers back, and the spell is dispelled.

* * *

"A dating show? _Really?_"

It is absolutely absurd how Macey McHenry could possibly become more gorgeous over the course of a few months. Her black hair had grown a few inches longer, almost grazing her shoulders, but still bluntly cut. Her lips had curled up into a disbelieving smirk as her eyes lingered on Cammie as if she was slightly impressed, slightly repulsed, but with a spark of affection in her eyes.

Cammie chooses to take this moment to glare at the proud girl next to her.

"It wasn't exactly a _choice_," she explains, the words rolling off her tongue as if she couldn't restrain it. She sees the little look Bex and Macey shares and she exhales, knowing that Macey was in on something she has no knowledge of. "_What?_"

She sees the glint in their eyes as they simultaneously ask, "What do you think about Zach Goode?"

"There's nothing interesting to say about him," she immediately scoffs with a subtle roll of her eyes, walking away to allow the two to chatter about whatever they wished to until she reaches her door. She takes a deep breath, reminding herself that she couldn't care less what her friends were chatting about until she heard his voice.

"Wouldn't you say he's..._Goode_, Gallagher Girl?"

She spins around with a forced polite smile, facing the boy who was the center of attention.

"That wasn't even considered _close_ to being clever, Blackthorne Boy."


End file.
